Weekly Daf #183

Niddah 25 - 31 - Issue #1838 - 14 Av 5757 / 11 - 17 August 1997

Return and Re-Learn

There are no better days in a person's life than
those he spends in his mother's womb before birth, where he is
taught the entire Torah. Just as he enters the world an angel
comes and gives him a slap on his lips, causing him to forget
what he has learned.

This fascinating account of our pre-natal learning
experience is cited by some commentaries as the explanation of
the custom to visit the home of a newborn boy the Shabbos eve
before his bris milah and to eat there cooked chickpeas.
The child is considered a mourner because of the Torah he has
forgotten, and the visitors come to console him and to partake
of the round-shaped traditional mourner's food which symbolizes
the eternal circle of life and death.

But why is it necessary for the unborn baby to learn
the Torah if he is destined to forget it at birth?

The explanation offered by the great Chassidic leader,
Rabbi Zvi Elimelech of Dinov, in his classic "BneiYissaschar" is that the Divine wisdom of Torah is
beyond the grasp of human intellect. Without a pre-natal exposure
to this wisdom it would be as unattainable as aerial flight is
for fish. But a problem arises if man is born with a complete
knowledge of Torah, for then he is no longer faced with the challenge
to learn it and thus be eligible for the great reward which comes
for Torah study.

The Divine solution is to expose us to Torah before
birth and cause every learning experience to be a deja vous
adventure.

This may also explain why our prayer in our three
regular daily services is "return us to Your Torah."
We have all been there already before we were born and all we
have to do is return.

Niddah 30b

The Unknown Miracle

"On that day you shall say: 'I will praise
You, Hashem, for showing anger towards me; Your anger has been
turned away and You comfort me'." (Yeshayahu 12:1)

These enigmatic words of the prophet are explained
by Rabbi Yosef in this manner:

Two people set out to conduct major business ventures.
One of them is, however, unable to proceed because he sustains
an injury from a splinter in his flesh. Instinctively, he begins
to curse his bad fortune as the other fellow's cargo-laden ship
embarks on a sea journey which will earn him a considerable profit.
Some days later he hears that his friend's ship has sunk. Now
realizing that his injury saved him from suffering a similar fate
he begins to praise Hashem.

Maharsha explains that
this is the praise that one is obligated to offer Hashem when
he safely completes a sea journey. The one who realizes that
the comparatively mild expression of Divine anger which caused
him to suffer his injury that rescued him from the need for the
harsher form of ship-sinking equates not embarking with safe completion
of the journey and offers the praise due for the latter.

This idea finds expression in Tehillim (72:18)
where the psalmist speaks of Hashem "Who does wondrous things
alone." Even the beneficiary of a miracle is sometimes
not aware of the miracle, such as in the above case of the life-saving
injury. Only Hashem is aware of its benefit to him at that moment.
It is only when the other's ship sinks is Hashem no longer alone
in appreciating the miracle. When this realization of disguised
Divine mercy dawns upon man, he too joins in declaring (Tehillim
72:19): "Blessed be His glorious Name forever."